A 29-item checklist dramatically increased the frequency with which providers in an Indian hospital took simple steps to protect the health of women in childbirth and their babies, such as washing their handswith soap before an exam or using a sterile blade to cut the umbilical cord. Atul Gawande, HMS associate professor of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Jonathan Spector, HMS instructor in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital, led the study.
